Mysterious Burning Smells, Unexplained Noises, and the Royal Air Force

As the unexplained mystery boom phenomenon continues worldwide, more people are beginning to pay attention to these anomalous sounds. What’s behind the sudden and dramatic increase in unexplained noises around the world? Are they reflective of a singular phenomenon, or could there be many different explanations? While I’ve written and speculated extensively about these mysterious explosion sounds over the past few years and believe they’re related, a recent incident in Northamptonshire, England shows that these unexplained sounds may not be as connected as they may seem.

The vast majority of the hundreds of mystery booms I’ve documented over the last three years are quite similar: a ground-shaking boom scares residents but leaves behind no further evidence. In Kingsport, however, residents have reported a strange smell the morning after the anomalous noises are heard. Could the two be related?

The Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

“Everyone’s so baffled,” Northampton resident Kerri Griffin wrote on the Kingsthorpe Crime Page on Facebook. “Did anyone hear six loud bangs in the Acre Lane area at 3:29 am this morning (26th Feb)?” Dozens of residents chimed in to add that they, too, had heard the noises, although the times reported vary. The Northampton Chronicle & Echo writes that the booms have been occurring steadily since Sunday, February 24 and have been reported throughout a wide swath of the town.

Like in other cases of mystery booms, residents have reported that the unexplained noises have shook the ground and triggered car alarms. Some residents described the noises as sounding like fireworks or gunshots, while others say they’re more like a distant thunderclap. A few residents say they’ve heard loud voices at the same time as the booms, while others say they’ve smelled a mysterious burning odor the morning after the noises.

A Eurofighter Typhoon at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, England.

While I’d normally write this one off as teenagers having a bit of late-night fun, a similar string of booms in 2016 show that there may be more to these recent booms than meets the headline. In April 2016, dozens of people throughout Northampton reported a boom that was later confirmed by the Ministry of Defence to be caused by a pair of fighter jets scrambled from the RAF Coningsby base to intercept an “unresponsive aircraft” in UK airspace. Little other information was released.

RAF Coningsby is located just to the east of Northampton and is responsible for Britain’s Quick Action Alert missions which are tasked with responding to unidentified aircraft approaching UK airspace. Could the RAF have something to do with the recent booms heard throughout Northampton? After all, the Royal Air Force has been busy in recent months responding to unidentified aircraft in the UK’s airspace, and scores of pilots and other eyewitnesses have been reporting all sorts of strange lights, anomalous objects, and other aerial mysteries above England lately. Is the RAF testing new aircraft or conducting exercises, or might there be incursions into UK airspace that we’re not being told about?